Quotation from the manuscript for "Lone Heart Mountain" by Estelle Ishigo:
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Painting 2: "Untitled (Woman and Child)"
Quotation from the manuscript for "Lone Heart Mountain" by Estelle Ishigo: |
“The women of our barrack shared a catalogue and Grandmother turned the brightly colored pages to embroidering and flowers and she ordered some thread and a packet of garden seeds. She wanted to nurse little growing things in her room. Just once again to see the beauty of a young living plant. Dreaming her dream she took her little grandson by the hand and they walked together past rows of barracks and along the fence. A soldier in the tower eyed her with curiosity and saw her stoop to let her grandchild ride upon her back.” (Lone Heart Mountain manuscript, p.14).
Notes on the painting:
The woman shields and protects the child. She carries the burden of protecting the innocent, vulnerable child. She works to create as normal a life as possible, while standing looking out at the outside world. Discuss the symbolism of the rays of sun breaking through the distant clouds.
The role of women changed in the changed in the camps. In traditional Japanese American homes, the oldest man was the head of the family. Because so many men were separated from their families in detention facilities, often only women were left to head the family. Many women from farms found that they had more leisure time now that they were released from field and housework. Many took classes in English and other studies.
Family dynamics also changed in the camps. All able-bodied people were expected to work. Although the pay was extremely low, young women and men found personal and economic power because there were only three pay grades, and they often earned as much or more as their fathers and other older men. This changed the family dynamics in some family where the father lost status as the major breadwinner. Young men and women from the second generation increasingly moved away from arranged marriages and preferred to select their own spouses and make other major decisions.
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3: Estelle Ishigo oil painting, "Lone Heart Mountain."
This painting shows a man standing with a young child clutching his leg and a woman seated beside him on the ground. Their nudity symbolizes them stripped of all possessions and rights. It emphasizes their vulnerability. They face the world alone with no protection, looking out over a dark abyss of uncertainty and danger. |
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Painting
4: "Windstorm at Heart Mountain Cemetery"
The drawing shows two ghostly figures, an adult and a child. They appear to be standing behind barbed wire in a cemetery while a storm rages. The figures look out past the barbed wire with their legs that seem rooted in the ground, entrapped. The wind blows against them, forcing them into imprisonment. |
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Drawing 5: Estelle Ishigo pencil sketch of Arthur Ishigo with the caption of "Are we Americans, again?" A pencil drawing of Arthur Ishigo (Estelle Ishigo's husband) . The drawing shows Arthur Ishigo in the foreground looking much older than his years (he was only in his forties at the time). He is still behind barbed wire. |
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In the background, a line of people are headed toward a city. This probably represents the release of the Japanese Americans from the camps. The return of Japanese Americans was very difficult. By the end of the war only older people were left in the camps. Many of them had lost all their property, their jobs, and their self-esteem. Some were afraid to leave because the difficulties they faced on the outside. The released internees were given only $25 and a ticket home. Upon their return they faced prejudice and fierce competition for jobs from returning soldiers.